Patient temperature control systems have been introduced to prevent fever in patients in the neuro ICU due to suffering from sub-arachnoid hemorrhage or other neurologic malady such as stroke. Also, such systems have been used to induce mild or moderate hypothermia to improve the outcomes of patients suffering from such maladies as stroke, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, traumatic brain injury, and high intracranial pressure. Examples of intravascular heat exchange catheters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,914,564, 6,416,533, 6,409,747, 6,405,080, 6,393,320, 6,368,304, 6,338,727, 6,299,599, 6,290,717, 6,287,326, 6,165,207, 6,149,670, 6,146,411, 6,126,684, 6,306,161, 6,264,679, 6,231,594, 6,149,676, 6,149,673, 6,110,168, 5,989,238, 5,879,329, 5,837,003, 6,383,210, 6,379,378, 6,364,899, 6,325,818, 6,312,452, 6,261,312, 6,254,626, 6,251,130, 6,251,129, 6,245,095, 6,238,428, 6,235,048, 6,231,595, 6,224,624, 6,149,677, 6,096,068, 6,042,559, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
External patient temperature control systems may be used. Such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,827,728, 6,818,012, 6,802,855, 6,799,063, 6,764,391, 6,692,518, 6,669,715, 6,660,027, 6,648,905, 6,645,232, 6,620,187, 6,461,379, 6,375,674, 6,197,045, and 6,188,930 (collectively, “the external pad patents”), all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In general, in all of the intravascular and external patient temperature control solutions, the temperature of the working fluid flowing through the catheter or pad is regulated by a heat exchange console based on feedback provided by the patient's actual body temperature, typically core body temperature as may be variously measured rectally, esophageally, tympanic ear temperature, blood temperature in, e.g., the vena cava, etc. The working fluid temperature is regulated by thermally coupling the working fluid to heating and/or cooling elements in the console. In many cases, the working fluid is forced in a closed fluid circuit path (including the console and the catheter or pad) by a peristaltic pump acting on IV tubing in the fluid circuit path.